The first demolition phase has started at Overdale Hospital, making way for the proposed new inpatient facility.

The government has chosen the site for an acute hospital with emergency and critical care, women's and children's services, operating theatres, the renal unit and most inpatient wards.

Demolition of the remainder of the existing buildings on the site is expected to take until the end of March 2024.

Asbestos surveys have been completed and the material has been removed from the old Overdale buildings at the back of the medical site and safely disposed of.

If the States Assembly continues to support the hospital next summer, spades will start hitting the ground in 2025 to construct the new facilities.

Infrastructure Minister Deputy Tom Binet hopes the planning department can deal with the application quickly.

"I think they understand the urgency, and the fact is that we're going to have a building that's going to have a lesser of an impact on the environment here, so it should be a little bit easier than the last one."

The government hopes the acute hospital will open its doors to patients and staff in 2028.

A map of the phased demolition

Patients on the Samarès Ward will remain at Overdale until a new facility is secured.

A new location is in mind, although the government says it needs more time to confirm plans before revealing where it is and when the patients will be moving.

Deputy Binet says the demolition, as a whole, is costing around £2 million.

"We've got a number of diggers, and we're demolishing all the old buildings.

....We'll finish all the old buildings by the end of March and, all things being equal, we'll move into the last section, phase four, which is the Samarès Ward."

The programme is prioritising sustainability, with around 85% of the rubble from the original site stored and repurposed for the construction of the new facilities.

Deputy Tom Binet says this is a significant milestone.

"We know islanders want us to get on and deliver the healthcare facilities that health staff and islanders have been waiting for.

Now that we have started progress with the removal of the buildings at the back of the Overdale site, we look forward to sharing the early designs for the new Acute Hospital early in 2024."

Deputy Binet claims the other two parts of the New Healthcare Facilities Programme at Kensington Place and St Saviour's Health Village will be cheaper than the £710 million Acute Hospital.

He says they will be less simply because they're smaller.

"Even if you combine the other two together I don't think they come to, maybe roughly the same as this."

The Future Hospital Review Panel, led by Deputy Sam Mezec, thinks the total costs should be published so States Members can make informed decisions.

"We've told them what we're spending in the next four years, we've told them that that's going to include completion of the acute and a contribution to the two other sites.

That's pretty specific in my view."